From JOHN JEFFERS
In the recent confusion over pit closures and energy resources, Michael
Heseltine’s response to a demand for an independent review was surprisingly
revealing. He insisted that there was no set of facts on which to base a
policy, merely the cases of different pressure groups advocating different
solutions.
That response illustrates very well the lack of regard that the present
administration has for science and professional expertise. There is, of
course, a great deal of factual information about Britain’s energy resources
and their interplay with world resources. The government itself employs
experts in this field, and there is a broad consensus of opinion about the
policies which should be pursued. When that consensus conflicts with preconceptions
about the mechanisms which are used to control energy use and supply, however,
that expertise counts for nothing.
This issue underlines the dangers of continuing to finance science by
the customer-contractor relationship. We need a body of scientists independent
of the policy-advocating agencies, and able to publish their results freely,
rather than in departmental reports which have only restricted distribution.
John Jeffers Kendal, Cumbria
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